tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post3333701218762554435..comments2024-01-10T06:40:26.416-05:00Comments on Chesterton and Friends: My Country Right or Wrong?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post-86534043007886213372008-04-05T12:48:00.000-04:002008-04-05T12:48:00.000-04:00blog nerd,I too have little patience with such tre...blog nerd,<BR/><BR/>I too have little patience with such treatment of Senator McCain's wartime experiences. Every man can be cracked in such a situation. While he did technically break the existing Code of Conduct at the time, he gave up no tactically usable information and it was because of the experiences of the POWs in Vietnam that the Code of Conduct was changed to where the objective is to resist as much as one is able and not surrender useful information. It serves no good purpose to be beat for refusing to give up say, information regarding what aircraft you flew, when the wreckage is behind you in smoking hole in the ground.<BR/><BR/>As to waterboarding. It did work on Kalid Sheik Mohammed. But even with that, I don't think it would be at the top of the list in interrogation techniques for effectiveness. From what I have been taught, it is the softer methods that work better in the long run. But does that mean we want to take it out of our "bag of tricks" given difference in people and situations? <BR/><BR/>Senator McCain, and others, may think it over the line. I suspect some would say solitary confinement is over the line. I think our problem is that there isn't an acceptable definition of torture.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post-821119240577937522008-04-05T07:01:00.000-04:002008-04-05T07:01:00.000-04:00Nice post. I'm wondering what you and Stu (and Se...Nice post. <BR/><BR/>I'm wondering what you and Stu (and Sean and anyone else with military experience) think of John McCain's position which is to say--its inhumane AND it just doesn't work. <BR/><BR/>Newsmax had what I think is a horrible piece on how McCain is a hypocrite because obviously torture worked on him, because his autobiography confesses that he gave up his name rank and serial number and his intended target after being tortured unmercifully and being threatened with withheld medical treatment. <BR/><BR/>But I still think that McCain is not speaking out of nowhere--do they have any studies, so to speak, of how effective waterboarding actually is in obtaining valid information?blog nerdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12546454002729653696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post-50376934665879770142008-04-04T21:47:00.000-04:002008-04-04T21:47:00.000-04:00see video: See Body of War, Hear Body of War Help ...<B>see video:</B> <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGtpfehw-qM&feature=PlayList&p=FA5B7B1A74A8EB4D&index=0&playnext=1" REL="nofollow">See Body of War, Hear Body of War</A> <BR/>Help Phil Donahue promote this important movie, directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, send this video link to others to make people aware of Tomas Young's story.<BR/>http://representativepress.googlepages.com/bodyofwarRepresentative Presshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09958518516826154703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post-32723942827804700102008-04-04T20:55:00.000-04:002008-04-04T20:55:00.000-04:00I'll post it here too.Kyro,I think your blog entry...I'll post it here too.<BR/><BR/>Kyro,<BR/><BR/>I think your blog entry does well to begin bounding a difficult issue. You have some experience in detainee operations and I have been to both SERE and Advanced SERE in my military training. While this definitely gives us some insight, I believe many have too little information to make a definitive ruling on the use of waterboarding and even other methods of coercion in an interrogation environment. Not that they can’t comprehend the issue or make comments but rather a lack of the whole picture. I can say during my experience at SERE, the instructors were able to fool everyone in the class using a variety of tactics whether hard or soft. And some of the “hard” ones were not pleasant by any means. Now if waterboarding becomes out of bounds, does the next “worst” tactic then come under scrutiny. While certainly a glib statement on my part, one man’s discomfort under waterboarding may be the next man’s bath. What I mean by that is everyone has their own flaws that can be exploited and could ultimately be described as “torture”. So again, we come back to actually defining “torture” and it isn’t easy. Now you have brought the “Petreus Doctrine” into the discussion (which I agree with) but I don’t think that is the total answer to this problem as any war will certainly put us in a situation where we need to get tactical information from a non-cooperative belligerent. I’m certainly open to discussion on this issue but to date I don’t think we (as a group here or as a society) have gotten the foundations of the argument down yet for coming up with an answer.<BR/><BR/>But again, stupid t-shirts don’t help either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11415684.post-81220213840304203252008-04-04T19:58:00.000-04:002008-04-04T19:58:00.000-04:00Very informative post, Kyro. And thank you for yo...Very informative post, Kyro. And thank you for your service and sacrifice!Trubadorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10490227689920361345noreply@blogger.com